This invention covers a set of structures particularly suitable for the fitting-out of moist rooms and their installation procedure.
According to a known technique, the flooring of moist rooms is usually consisting of a cement based floor foundation covered by ceramic tiles glued and sealed onto this foundation.
Because of the interstices between tiles and their detachment, this flooring type has the drawback of water seepage, especially in the naval sector, where they may cause corrosion of the lower deck bearing structures. Besides being heavy weighted, these paving tiles by their detachment may cause other defects such as bulking of the floor foundation.
Another drawback of tile paving is generated by the erection of the whole metal structure (aluminium partition walls) and various machines directly resting on the deck below to which they are anchored by welding, thus excessively transmitting to the decks located below and above, any noise caused by the operations performed on the moist rooms.
According to another known technical solution, these drawbacks are obviated by a continuous resin based flooring without tiles, on which the partition panels, furnitures and machines are subsequently mounted.
This known resin based flooring has the drawback that the flooring has to be completed while the room is empty and before the partition panels and other facilities are installed, so that all subsequent works to complete the rooms are carried out on the already completed flooring which may thus be damaged.
The known continuous flooring has also the drawback of its uncertain adhesion in the contact zones between the floor and metal components. After moisture penetration, this drawback is not easy to eliminate because the zone around the seepage area has to be dismantled to prevent the equipment from being damaged, while causing an early ageing of the supporting metal structures and, especially on board of vessels, corrosion of the deck plates which may be perforated in less than ten years.
The above drawbacks have been eliminated by the structure subject matter of this invention and by its installation procedure.
This invention has the aim to provide a fitting-out with a flooring which eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks while at the same time making available a light-weight structure, easy to install and having the waterproofing and noise damping characteristics required in moist rooms, especially on board of vessels.
To achieve this aim, the structural components and their accessories are prefabricated, to facilitate their installation and minimize the risk of poor installation work.
Particular care has been given to the design of special shaped sections previously glued with structural bonding agents directly on the structure below, so that the erection of the partition panels will be independent of floor laying, which can be laid at a later time and to prevent the floor from being damaged during the initial outfit stage of the area. On board, for example, coamings and box shaped seatings are fastened onto the deck plates to prevent condense water and liquid from seeping into the structures below and to ensure that the flooring can be laid at a later time after the room has almost been completed.
Special attention is focused on a perfect adhesion of the flooring to the sections, made possible by the peculiar shape of these sections, having at their lower part a sloping flap where the flooring overlaps the section, and also thanks to the used adhesives and to the preliminary treatment of the section surfaces with adhesion boosters and/or surface roughing agents.
Some of the numerous advantages offered by this invention are described below.
Installation of the structures is very easier as compared with the known technique, because a retaining section or coaming is mounted directly on the structure below or deck plate, which can easily be perfectly levelled, if necessary by using shims.
The coaming is then sealed off and it is anchored to the deck plates with structural bonding agents.
Special shaped panels are mounted on the coaming. these panels too are advantageously simplified, they are light-weight and their structure and fastening methodology are improved with respect to known solutions.
The inclination of the lower section flap offers the advantage of increasing the contact zone with the flooring, which consists of resin properly batched with special binders, so that it will be possible to butter the resin on the section flap, and the advantage of preventing cracks forming between the section and floor, owing to considerable overlap; finally the advantage of making it easier for the resin exactly to reach the toe of the section and to allow for a small error tolerance in the workmanship. Indeed, should the floor and section not be perfectly aligned, this error would still be accepted according to health standards, because it would still be possible perfectly to clean the floor which would have a pleasant appearance.
Another advantage lies in the fact that the resin can be easily repaired in case of limited adhesion problems and/or if the flooring is damaged caused, for example, by strong concentrated impact, gashes, sabotage. In such cases, it suffices to use a cutter to remove the damaged zone and apply new resin to that area to ensure its restoration.
The lighter weight of the assembled structure as compared with the known technique is an further advantage of this invention, especially for the flooring, reducing its weight by about 60% with respect to the known technique.
Like the peripheral or partition coamings, the drain channels and box shaped seatings are directly glued onto the deck plates, whereas the furnitures and machines will be mounted at a later stage.
Further to ensure perfect waterproofing of the flooring, the drain channels are practically enbloc stainless steel tanks secured to the box shaped seating whenever feasible.
Another advantage, thanks to the drain channel fitted in adhesion to the flooring, is the fact that it is easier to obtain the required slope, with improved sealing and conveyance of the run-off towards the drains.
The panel facing consists of stainless steel plates whereas the back of the panels is in galvanized plate. A corrugated aluminium reinforcement is inserted between the two steel plates to provide adequate rigidity.
The backside of the panels is secured to the bulkheads by C-shaped elements and supporting brackets.
Besides the peculiar section shape, adhesion boosters for stainless surfaces may be applied to the lower flap of the sections in contact with the flooring, to improve their adhesion to the floor foundation.
The stainless steel surface is previously degreased and roughened to roughen the flap in touch with the flooring so that it will be rougher surfaced than the original satined plate and thus better ensure adhesion.
The installation procedure of the structures according to this invention is as follows, e.g. on board of ships.
First of all the coamings are rigged and are then glued onto the deck plate. The panels are then placed and the box shaped seatings and drain channels are glued onto the deck plates. Before the application of the resin, an adhesion booster is applied as a sticker on the metal support (for example on the deck) and on the previously roughened lower flaps of the stainless steel sections, then the foundation is buttered and covered with a finishing coat to be topped with transparent resin incorporating antislip granulates. The operation terminates with the application of a protective product.
The adhesion booster consists of a Xylane based two-component compound.
The glues are single-component polyurethane based structural bonding agents; it will for instance be possible to use a single-component polyurethane thick paste product which hardens upon exposure to air known under the trade name SICAFLEX 252 which is not only used as a bonding agent but also as a sealant.
The foundation consists of a two-component epoxy-polyurethane based product with a foamed micro cellular aluminate filler, which reduces the weight of the compound to a density of 0.9 kg/m2.
The finishing coat consists of a two-component polyurethane based resin with a decorative function and a density of 1.2 kg/m2.
This finishing coat is topped by a transparent polyurethane based resin in which a special anti-slip system is incorporated, if necessary. During the final total cleaning of the moist rooms, a special transparent acrylic-silicone based, antiscratch and antiwear product is applied to this finish.
It must be stressed that the antislip feature should not be accentuated since it would make cleaning more difficult, nor should it be too flimsy since it might cause slipping, especially in some zones, as for instance in the sauce zone.
To prevent slipping in required zones, 60 mesh grain sized aluminium oxide, is strewn on the transparent polyurethane resin, immediately coating this zone with the same transparent polyurethane resin, so that the resin creates by osmosis a support for the anti-slip granules. The best results can be obtained with this system by rolling the first polyurethane based resin coat, then strewing the granules and applying the same resin coat within about 10 minutes, so as to form one single layer. The resin, which initially conglobes the granules, then tends to run downwards as long as it is still fresh, thus letting emerge the top of the granules.
According to a preferred procedure, a foundation of about 25 mm is adopted which is sanded, a 2 mm thick decorative finish is applied, followed by further sanding and the application of a 200xcexc transparent polyurethane based resin coat which is finally topped by a 150xcexc protective antiscratch product.